ABSTRACT

Today, China's renewed interest in Africa is essentially driven by economic imperatives as its activities and relationships in Africa are mostly defined and sustained through economic objectives established by China and African states. This chapter reviews and reframes the new and emerging Sino-Africa discourse, which perceives China as a geoeconomic actor that is rather risk averse in its economic engagements—counter to some recent intellectual discourses on China's economic behavior in Africa—and also sensitive to the socio-historic, political and economic causes of the state in Africa. This is particularly so in Africa where politics and economics are in continuous transition. Furthermore, China's geoeconomic activities in Africa prioritize economic over political and security interests, in line with its 'go global' policy—a shift that is in tandem with the ever-increasing economic development pressures on states in Africa. Ghana's progress in economic development came along with China's growing interest in Ghana, as part of its geographically expansive economic interests and engagements across Africa.